Austria is not only the Vienna Opera, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Sacher cake. Real discoveries await tourists in Carinthia – a land known for its pristine lakes, delicious peasant food and magnificent mountain scenery.
Summer holidays in offers all conceivable activities at once. Sunbathing and swimming can be alternated with excursions to historical sites, tastings of national dishes and ecotourism.
TO DO
- Sunbathing and swimming: in summer, the water in the lakes warms up to 26-28 degrees, so you can swim with the whole family.
- Learn water sports: surfing, yachting, water skiing and diving.
- Explore the area on foot or by bike. The nature in these places is striking in its beauty and diversity of landscape: rivers, waterfalls, mountains, forests, gorges, stalactite caves and even a glacier. Trekking enthusiasts should take advantage of the already laid routes of various difficulty levels. One of the most extreme is the ascent to the glacier. Cyclists will enjoy routes along the Drava river, around the Weißensee lake and on the Peca mountain.
- Sail on the Traunsee lake on the world’s oldest boat “Gisel” with wheels and a coal firebox. A voyage on an exotic boat and magnificent views of Mount Traunstein will leave a lasting impression.
- See how farmers live: visit the honey festival in Hermagor, pick apples in Levanthal, store fragrant herbs for a year in the village of Irschen, bake bread in Lezachtal and watch how cheese is made in Tressdorfer Alm. Children will be happy to keep you company.
- Go fishing and cook dinner from your catch. Eels, pike perches, pikes, carps are found in local reservoirs, and in the middle of the last century, a 65-kilogram catfish was caught in one of the lakes!
- Learn to play golf or hone your skills on the best fields of the southern alpine slopes. Map AlpeAdriaGolfCard will give you access to the best clearings.
- Soak in the baths. One of the oldest – Werzer’sBadehaus – was built in 1895 on Lake Wörthersee. Now there is a modern spa.
TO VISIT
- Concerts: Add to your calendar a visit to the festivals – classical music on Lake Wörthersee and the “Carinthian Summer” in Villach and Ossiach. The program of the latter includes all kinds of music: from classical and church to rap, jazz and folk tunes.
- Unapproachable Hochosterwitz castlelocated on top of a cliff. The path to it lies through the defensive structures and 14 gates. In the castle you can see magnificent ceiling frescoes, a collection of Renaissance paintings and a collection of medieval weapons.
- Castle Strassburg, built in the Gothic style with baroque stucco and old wall paintings, was once the residence of the bishop. There is also an excellent restaurant, Al Castello, which serves national cuisine. For those for whom this is not enough, there is a hunting museum, an ethnographic collection and regular cultural events.
- Monastery of Saint Paul, whose inhabitants have been collecting paintings for a long time. Rubens, Dürer and Van Dyck are reason enough to visit.
NB! Pay attention to the discount card . With it, you can visit more than 100 attractions in Carinthia for free. Special offers apply not only to entrances to museums and castles, but also to boat trips, visits to baths, the zoo, etc. You can buy a card at all travel agencies, and many hotels give it to their guests for free.
TO FUN
- Gnomes Park Gurk. A fabulous city, on the territory of which there is a parliament, a fortress, a theater and a rose garden. You can ride a mini train and watch the life of the gnomes from May to mid-September.
- Miniature park “Minimundus” – models of masterpieces of architecture from around the world. Models are made on a scale of 1:25 and copy the smallest details of objects.
- World of Dolls by Ellie Riehl. A museum that houses 700 dolls of the master: it took Ellie 45 years to complete. Each of them is created in the image and likeness of real people.
- Museum Porsche. The first privately owned Porsche Museum in Europe, with 45 luxury car models on display, is located in Gmünd. It was here that the prototype Porsche 356 was created and the first 50 copies were assembled.
- Monkey Park in Landskron. Visitors will have a fun excursion to the nursery, where 100 macaques native to Japan live.
TO TASTE
A fish. In the menu of most restaurants you will find river trout, pike perch, pike and carp. Fish here is usually fried with spices and served with fresh vegetable salads. The chefs cook excellent fish soup and pies.
Bretlyauze – assorted homemade sausages, sausages and ham, cut into thin slices, served on a wooden board.
Schinkenfleckern – noodles with pieces of fried ham.
Kirchtag soup. It is prepared from several types of meat – lamb, beef, pork and chicken with the addition of cream, sour cream and saffron. It is customary to eat soup with a reindling – a pie made of lush dough with a sweet filling.
Dumplings with cottage cheese and herbs and kasnudli (dumplings) with berries, potatoes and cottage cheese.
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